(NS) Ultimate Dust Deputy (Not So)

[Mdjagg]

The easiest way to turn your standard dust deputy into a (NS) version Ultimate Dust Deputy is to make a top plate for your vac and screw it all together, with a ton of silicone.

This is very simple and only took 15-20 mins to do.

Simply place a systainer on top of a piece of 1/2" plywood and line up two sides of the plywood with the outside edge of the latch teeth on the long side of the systainer  and the outside edge of the teeth on the sort side.

Then take a pencil and trace it by eye, this has to be close but nowhere near perfect.

Jigsaw or coping saw the lines, fine tune the plate size so it doesn't overhang the top of your vac.

Then cut a piece of plywood what ever shape or size you like, so long as it fits in the bucket ( i used a circular piece with about a 3" diameter), and screw it down to the plate piece that fastens to the vac. Make sure to put a lot of silicone between to bucket and plate and also bucket and scrap piece that is the top of the plywood sandwich.

One thing not shown in the pictures is the zip tie that I used to tie the hose to the bucket handle so that it wouldn't lean over at all.

The next time I do this ill probably put a hole on the plate to let the extractor hose come straight up rather than having it bend as soon as it comes out of the entry port.

This has saved me a ton of time already. I used to ratchet strap the bucket to the vac because it tipped over all the time. Also, now the whole thing is a Pull-a-Long. The other benefit is this gets the hose up at chest height giving you a couple of extra feet when sanding stairs or ceilings which is unfortunately what I've been doing recently.

You could also turn this into a box and put the Dust Deputy cyclone on that without the bucket. Since this is working well I'm going to stick with what I've got for now.

 

[Slappy]

No offense but just another idea   [cool]

a plastic milk crate 3X bungee'd to the top of the  Vac with a piece of cushion foam under the crate  (to keep it level & stable  ) & then simply put the bucket with the DD into the milk crate & another bungee cord to keep the bucket/DD there , that how i did with my shopvac .
 I've since went with a  Bigger bucket L O L longer hose as well
here's a container that works real well with the Dust Deputy  3X as big but not unwieldy locking  HD steel drum ring will a real rubber seal that makes open/closing the bucket easy peasy

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0026GO5CA/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Paul G]

I'm assuming the silicone is to prevent air leaks? Perhaps an easier method is to use two buckets, a lower bucket gets bolted to the plate and then the DD bucket just sits inside the lower bucket. It makes for easier bucket cleanout, just lift and go, no plate to detach. I do something similar but its sitting next to a shopvac, both strapped together to a furniture dolly. Its an ugly beast but it works great

 

[Corwin]

I have a ClearVue instead of the DD.  The bucket I use with my cyclone fits into an empty Systainer with the lid open.  I originally was going to modify a Systainer-V to use as the bucket, but my setup was so handy I never found the need to change it.  Even added one of those tool-holder lid accessories, since the lid was there and already open...  Found another use for that empty Systainer-V too.   [big grin]

Anyway, I'm sure you will enjoy having your DD container modified so that it readily attaches to the top of your extractor.  Going with the two buckets as suggested above may make your unit even better. 

 

[Mdjagg]

That's genius, the two buckets never crossed my mind.  It's funny too because the DD that I bought actually comes with two buckets, but even if it didn't I have a mess of buckets stacked up. I seem to clean out and keep most of my mud and paint buckets, very handy to have around. 

Really, outside of the DD, I was thinking that posting this would show how easy cutting a piece that can attach to the systainer system is.  The tolerance for fitting is quite high, you don't have to be very precise.  I'm thinking the next step is to make a systainer for some of the other non-Festools that I have. 

Thanks again for the double DD bucket idea.  Solves two issues, I don't have to keep wasting zip ties, and I won't have to empty the bucket with a piece of wood attached to the bottom. 

 

[Paul G]

That's genius, the two buckets never crossed my mind.  It's funny too because the DD that I bought actually comes with two buckets, but even if it didn't I have a mess of buckets stacked up. I seem to clean out and keep most of my mud and paint buckets, very handy to have around.  

Really, outside of the DD, I was thinking that posting this would show how easy cutting a piece that can attach to the systainer system is.  The tolerance for fitting is quite high, you don't have to be very precise.  I'm thinking the next step is to make a systainer for some of the other non-Festools that I have.  

Thanks again for the double DD bucket idea.  Solves two issues, I don't have to keep wasting zip ties, and I won't have to empty the bucket with a piece of wood attached to the bottom.  

Thanks but it's not my original idea, another one of those methods I picked up somewhere and passing forward. Now that I think about it I think the idea came from Onieda themselves, if your kit came with casters the idea is to bolt those to the bottom bucket and then drop in the bucket with the cyclone on top. One of those rare times I actually read the directions lol. I just skipped the casters and bungeed the bottom bucket to the furniture dolly rig. But here's a little tip I discovered (though I doubt I'm the first), when disconnecting the hoses from the cyclone for dumping you know how there's always a little crud that spills out that was built up at the hose connectors? Well that is greatly reduced if you leave the vac running when you disconnect, first the 'tool' hose and then the shop vac hose, and then turn off. That's my SOP now as well with my Festool CT when removing the hose. Also tapping the length of the hose with a paint stir stick or similar when running does a good job of dislodging that dust stuck in the hose that always seems to spill out when putting the hose away.